Why study for an IRRV qualification?

To work in Revenues and Benefits administration or Rating Valuation, you need managerial, professional and IT skills as well as drive, determination and the ability to think hard and straight. The IRRV Provides Qualifications to get you there.”

David Magor OBE IRRV, Chief executive, IRRV

Enhance your prospects by gaining an IRRV qualification. If you are at an early stage in your professional career, you can take a Level 3 qualification, or if you are in, or aiming for, a management position, the Diploma is ideal. IRRV qualifications provide evidence of the knowledge and skills required to carry out a range of operations in a Revenues, Welfare Benefits or Valuation Tribunal environment. Level 3 can be taken as a study course leading to examination or workplace assessment, and Diploma is assessed by examination.

Options within each qualification ensure that you can specialise in your own area of work, and follow a natural progression from Level 3 to Diploma.

Gaining qualifications is a great way to stand out, increase your confidence and prove to employers that you've reached the highest standard. Employers are increasingly looking to recruit IRRV qualified practitioners so getting the qualification will increase your career advancement.

Case Study.

I started in Revenues in 2003 and attained my Technician qualification in December 2004. This allowed me to progress over the next eight years from a Clerical Assistant to a senior team leader.

I then acted as Revenues Manager on an interim basis whilst I studied for my Diploma via distance learning. I obtained the Diploma this year and was then successful in securing the position of Revenues Manager on a permanent basis.

In my position, and accounting for the weight that my employers place on the IRRV qualification, I could not have progressed without my studies. That said, even if an employer did not place so much weight on having the qualifications, I would say that the process of studying and qualifying is essential in this industry. Through studying, you learn not just what we do, but why we do it and you are then able to question current methods, interpret the law and develop future policy for the good of the industry as a whole.

I also found the management aspects of the Diploma qualification particularly useful. When you think about it, it is a strange quirk of most areas of employment that as you improve and progress in your area of expertise, you are rewarded with promotion and usually with that comes the responsibility for people. Management is a professional area in its own right and I am a Revenues “expert”. With this in mind, the better I have become at Revenues, the more staff I have found myself responsible for. I’m sure it’s no mistake that the IRRV weighs the Diploma qualification heavily towards management and I think this is absolutely right.

Regarding the experience of studying, I studied Technician via day release in the West Midlands and found that to be a great start and the lecturers were great. I studied Diploma via distance learning and it was difficult. A lot of self-discipline is required, but it was well worth it and the Keele revision course was not only great fun, but also essential (for me) to help me pass my exams.